[the great composto]

I have been thinking of getting pigs for sometime now but deciding how to get things moving so what do you think of this starter plan?

Thinking of buying 4 Tamworth weaners and sending one to slaugher after 6 months to start the supply of pork.

then 2 more on to bacon after 12 months and retain the final one for putting to the boar when I am ready the following year.

Do something similar for year 2 but in addition try my hand at raising weaners once  I have a bit of experience.

I am only going to do this if i can get a few people together to take the final product even expecting them to commit to the purchase by paying 50% up front to ease the initial cash flow.

What do you think?   What was your plan when you started with pigs - how many? and did the plan work?

Thanks for reading.

[Bionic]

I am new to pig keeping and have 2 weaners that will be going on their one way journey in Sept.
As far as I can see the flaw in your plan is keeping the one to go to the boar. You cannot keep 1 pig on their own. They need company of their own kind.
There will be others along soon with far more experience than I have to comment
Sally

[Gary]

Sounds okay, but if you take 1 to slaughter and keep the rest on until 12 months you will either have to split them if they are gilts and boars  or you may have piglets quicker than you thought, also personally i'd probably wait more than a year to start breeding unless you have a good plan that you stick to ie customer base make sure you have enough customers to supply because you could have 8 piglets on your hands!!!
hth
Gary

[princesspiggy]

check out the weight of a 12mth tammie against the weight limit of ur abattior. also u wouldnt want to keep a boar that long incase of boar taint.
we must have raised 4 batches of weaners before buying breeding stock. theres alot to learn and that takes time. its nice to send them away and have a break and think. or maybe dabble wi a different breed.


we sometimes raise weaners for other people and get people to pay in installments so ur never out of pocket. a bacon weight pig would be quite expensive unless u divided it between 4 people. ud need to know ur costings up front to know what u can charge.
finding someone to cure ur pig is tricky, our butchers will only do the loins and they charge extra. our other butcher wont do it all all.
we once sent 2 tamworths at 12mths and got it all cured - but the butcher stuffed it up so bad they were inedible. we had to soak everything before we ate it or it burnt ur tongue underand it never tasted good. quite why, i dont know as we were beginners but we never used him again.


why not do weaners in batches of 2 twice a year until u know what u can sell and how to feed them. its easy to finish them then find they r far too fat etc, it comes with experience, especially wi tammies who scream starvation under 3 inches of fat 

[the great composto]

Thanks for the comments - very interesting - I will review the plan because I can see sense i what you are telling me.
Nobodies telling me how their first steps into pig keeping went 

[princesspiggy]

Nobodies telling me how their first steps into pig keeping went 

the first ones were tammies from mart, bit flighty, slightly daunting the bigger they got,was relieved when they went, sent them away a bit late as we didnt know about the "golden 6 mths". wen a pig farmer told us they were ready they still looked so small. took me 3 mths before i cud bring myself to eat them.


2nd ones were tammies from local farm, v friendly, we were much more relaxed this time, they freeranged the farm and followed us like dogs everywhere. kept them til 12mths as we didnt want them to leave, cried outside abattoir for ages. butcher cured them badly so took years to eat thru it.


3rd ones were horrible black xbred pigs, rude greedy girls with little character and the pork wasnt much to write home about. they taught me that tamworths taste better and r much more fun to have.
 ahh seems like ages ago now.
its alright to make mistakes, as long as u learn from it.

[Shropshirelass]

Mmm think about sending them to slaughter I'd personally never send 1 on its own x

[Tamsaddle]

I would definitely start with weaners for fattening only.  Buy them in batches of two, ie. 2, 4, 6, 8 etc. then you can send off two to slaughter together, and always have 2 left to keep each other company.   In the early days the main problem you will have will be over-fat pigs, and it takes several seasons before you get it right - I still haven't and I have been at it for 4 years.   They don't look or feel remotely fat while you've got them, you're sure you're not overfeeding them, then they come back from the butchers with thick back fat from 28 to 40 mm;  far too much for most people's taste.   The other thing to think about is gender and space, if you start with males and female pigs they will need to be completely separated from 4 months old;   do you have the space and arcs for this, if not, choose one gender or the other, doesn't make a huge difference in terms of taste and/or fat, possibly males do a bit better in my opinion.   And finally consider a breed that doesn't put on too much fat anyway - Robert and Lillian Waddell's Hampshires seem amazing, but on the other hand they are extremely experienced pig keepers and even have a pig weighing machine.    There was a post on here some while back with photos of Lillian's Hampshire bacon - looked divine.   Tamsaddle

[ballingall]

I have twice raised a pair of weaners to slaughter.


First year we got two pure bred tamworths from Robert and Lillian (as mentioned in other posts). This worked well, because they live literally 5 mins up the road, and it gave me a nice security blanket in case either of them got sick.


As princesspiggy said, our first two went away too fat really. But it is hard to judge with your first ones, and the tammies were pretty demanding about food, also we had them at the start of a really bad winter, so wasnt sure how much they would need to help keep them warm. But aside from a bit too fat they were fine.


Our next pair were Mangalitza cross Large Black (I just love black pigs). And I managed these much better- had more veg to feed them, and I was ruthless about the food- they got how much pig nuts they were supposed to get and no extra- and the fat situation was much better! I felt much more relaxed with the second pair, they were more laid back pigs,


I do agree, don't breed any until after you have raised some for slaughter, and taken stock afterwards. Despite how much you know in advance that they rootle, it still comes as a shock how quickly a few pigs can destroy a bit of ground. And especially in autumn/winter/ spring (and even summer this year!) when is is so wet.


Good luck though!

[robert waddell]

all traditional pigs have a tendency to go to fat    after all they were a duel purpose animal   that provided meat and fat    the fat was used for cooking or for soap making      the very difficult part is feeding to keep the fat at a minimum     the fat is the animals store for times when food is in short supply
with balingal   they were feeding goats milk as well as concentrates and unless you have access to a back fat monitor like the commercial guys have you are stuffed until your pig is hanging on the hook    by which time it is to late to adjust or do anything about it     Tammie's are very vocal at wanting feed  but resist and try and have a very large area for them to roam and search for other food sources           that is several acres as they wont be long in destroying it to look like a battlefield   with fox holes
Hampshire Duroc pietrain  all can be fed and wont produce excessive amounts of fat    i did see a carcass with about 5 mil of fat and it just looked so wrong    10-12 mil is what the holly grail  is 20 mil will be acceptable for pedigree pork and anything above this is could be a waste of your feed and money
but every body is different and have seen two different producers of bacon     both with the same breed that had over fat cover      one in particular a butcher commented that if he was trying to sell it in  his shops no body would buy it simply for being excessively fat

[Fowgill Farm]

Theres lots of info on the GOS website regarding getting started and also on this site if you care to scroll thro some of the previous pages.
My advice don't run before you can walk, we kept fatteners for about 2 and half years before venturing in to breeding.
Also where you're planning to keep them (other post)doesn't sound permananent, big or secure enough to keep breeding stock
Sorry to sound negative but just trying to make you see that theres a lot to consider.
Mandy 

[the great composto]

Not taken as negative Mandy - thanks for all advice - we have thought about having pigs as an extention to the other stuff we do - recently a few things have come together to make it more of a possibility.
I have been reading non stop pig stuff for some time now.
The problem is there are lots of facts araound about how much to feed etc but its the practical stuff that is important to me.

Thanks all

[Victorian Farmer]

i would go to the mart and get 4 at the mo £15 each that's £60 get used to them and learn then when you no whot you wont get them .its only cost you £60 and you will lern a lot with not much cost .i don't keep pigs eney more because i swop with sheep etc.

[sokel]

Our first 2 where tamworths. We got them through an advert on preloved
I loved those 2 pigs ! I called them the tamworth 2 because true to form they managed to escape several times to muddier places. Even got onto the fell wallowing in a bog !!
They did always come running when I shouted of them though.
Next 2 where middle whites tbh I didn't enjoy keeping those 2
They where well grown when I got them and we didn't bond at all. They used to try and bite my legs most days and I could never get them where I wanted them. They had not had a good start before I got them though
I was glad to see them go
Now we have 5 gos they are now 4 months old and growing well
We only went for 4 but couldn't leave 1 behind on its own
This has ofcourse upset our plans for them to go in 2s
I am enjoying keeping the gos but think my heart will always be with tamworths and hopefully will have more in the future

[princesspiggy]

I am enjoying keeping the gos but think my heart will always be with tamworths and hopefully will have more in the future

    where do u stay sokel?